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REV.  THOMAS  CREIGH  D.D. 


Born,  September  9,  1808, 
Died,  April  21,  1880. 


Lane  S.  Hnr>,  Printer  and  Binder , 
H irrisburg,  Pa. 


The  Rev.  Thomas  Creigh,  D.  D.,  died  suddenly,  on 
Wednesday  night,  April  21,1 880.  On  Monday  afternoon, 
April  26,  the  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Mercersburg.  A  large  number  of  the  Minis- 
ters and  Elders  of  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle  (of  which  he 
had  been  a  member  for  nearly  half  a  century)  and  many 
friends  from  the  neighboring  towns  were  present.  The 
Churches  of  the  entire  Presbytery  were  mourners  on  the 
sad  occasion,  for  the  deceased  was  well  known  and  greatly 
beloved  in  them  all.  His  fellow-citizens  of  Mercersburg 
shared  in  the  common  grief,  and  the  town  presented  the 
quiet  and  solemnity  of  the  Sabbath.  The  places  of  busi- 
ness were  closed,  and  "  the  mourners  went  about  the 
streets."  Groups  here  and  there  silently  talked  of  him 
whom  all  classes  revered  and  loved,  and  whose  presence 
for  so  many  years  had  been  a  familiar  one  on  their  streets 
and  in  their  homes.  It  was  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  the  great  and  good  man  departed. 

Before  the  hour  appointed  for  the  funeral,  the  Ministers 
of  the  Presbytery  and  of  the  Mercersburg  Churches,  with 
the  relatives  and  immediate  friends  of  the  deceased,  met 
at  the  parsonage,  and  prayer  in  behalf  of  the  stricken  fam- 
ily and  people  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  George  S.  Cham- 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


bers,  of  Harrisburg.  The  body  was  then  removed  to  the 
Church  and  deposited  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  borne  thither 
by  the  Elders  of  the  Church.  The  pulpit  and  galleries 
were  draped  in  appropriate  mourning.  The  house  was 
crowded  by  a  large  and  saddened  concourse  of  people. 
The  features  of  the  beloved  dead  were  calm,  and  natural, 
and  peaceful,  befitting  one  who,  having  "kept  the  faith," 
had  "fallen  asleep  in  Jesus."  Among  the  touching  sights 
of  the  sorrowful  occasion,  was  that  of  one  of  the  galleries 
filled  with  the  colored  people  of  the  community,  all  of 
whom  venerated  and  loved  Dr.  Creigh  as  the  life-long 
friend  of  their  families  and  of  their  race 

The  Ministers  of  the  community  and  the  Presbytery 
occupied  the  seats  in  and  near  the  pulpit.  As  the  slow 
procession  came  in,  the  choir  sang  the  anthem,  beginning : 

"Go  to  thy  rest  in  peace." 

The  remaining  services  were  conducted  as  follows: 
Invocation — By  Rev.  Robert  McCachran,  of  Newville, 

the  oldest  member  of  the  Presbytery. 
Hymn  265 — "Jesus,  I  live  to  Thee," — Read  by  Rev. 

James  H.  Stewart,  of  Greencastle. 
Scripture  Lesson — Psalm  xcii:   12-15;  Johnii:   25-26; 

John  xiv:  2-3;    1  Cor.  xv :  53-57  ;    2  Cor.  v:  2-4; 

Rev.  vii:  13-17,  and  Rev.  xxii:  1-6,  first  clause — By 

Rev.  Conway  P.  Wing,  D.  D.,  of  Carlisle. 
Prayer — By  Rev.  Robert  F.  McClean,  of  McConnells- 

burg. 
Address — By  Rev.  J.  Agnew  Crawford,  D.  D.,  of  Cham- 

bersburg. 


Ker.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  />. 


Addresses  brief  and  touching,  mainly  re-calling  tender  per- 
sonal reminiscences  of  Dr.  CREIGH — By  Rev.  James 
F.  Kennedy,  D.  D.,  of  Chambersburg  ;  Rev.  Andrew 
J.   Hesson,    Lutheran   Church,   Mercersburg ;    Rev. 
Isaac   J.    Brown,   Reformed   Church,    Mercersburg, 
and  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Murray,  D.  D.,  of  Carlisle. 
Prayer — By  Rev.  William  A.  McCarrell,  of  Shippensburg. 
Hymn  758 — (i  Forever  with  the  Lord," — Read  by  Rev. 
Joseph  A.  Fleming,  of  Welsh  Run. 
After  the  very  impressive  and  solemn  services  at  the 
Church,  the  great  body  of  the  people  accompanied  the 
remains  to  the  beautiful  cemetery,  close  by  the  town.     It 
stands  on  the  crown  of  a  hill  overlooking  the  village  and 
the  surrounding  country  for  many  miles.     But  a  few  mile:, 
away,  and  stretching  north  and  south  to  the  dim  horizon, 
runs  the  fine  range  of  the  Blue  mountains,  while  close  by 
were  the  homes  for  many  miles  around,  that  formed  the 
parish  of  Dr.  Creigh's  love  and  labors  for  half  an  hun- 
dred years.     In  the  ground  around  his  grave  slept  the 
dust  of  saints  to  whom  he  had  ministered.     It  was  a  fitting 
place,  amid  the  dead  and  living  of  his  love,  to  lay  the 
body  of  this  venerable  and  beloved  servant  of  God. 

After  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Vance,  of  Carlisle,  ail 
that  was  mortal  of  Thomas  Creigh  was  committed  to  the 
grave  and  to  the  care  of  his  immortal  Saviour,  and  over 
the  sacred  dust  was  pronounced  the  benediction,  by  the 
Rev.  John  R.  Agnew,  of  Greencastle. 


BY    THE 


Rev.  J.  A&IEW  CRAWFORD,  D.  D. 


The  part  which  I  rise  to  take  in  these  sad  solemnities  is 
not  one  of  my  own  selection.  My  thought  was  that  I 
should  sit  with  my  brethren  of  the  ministry  a  mute  mourner, 
while  some  one  better  qualified  should  be  leading  us  in 
the  service.  But  1  have  yielded  to  the  wish  of  the  family 
of  our  departed  brother,  and  taken  upon  me  the  duty, 
which,  had  he  been  able  to  attend,  would  have  devolved  ' 
upon  the  Rev.  Dr.  Brownsoia,  of  Washington,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

It  seems  to  shorten  the  road  to  the  sky  when  we  find 
that  the  fraction  of  an  hour  gave  ample  time  for  our 
brother  to  travel  it.  It  seems  to  put  contempt,  indeed, 
upon  all  earthly  splendors,  to  realize  that  a  sudden  rent 
in  this  curtain  of  gauze  which  is  hiding  the  future,  may,  in 
an  instant,  let  in  the  eternal  glories  upon  us.  The  poles 
are  far  apart,  as  we  think  ;  "  the  east  is  distant  from  the 
west,"  as  the  Psalmist  sings  to  us  ;  but  the  men  who  are 
walking  here  with  God  are  already  in  the  very  purlieus  of 
the  celestial  city,  and  in  the  ante-chamber  of  the  King  of 
Kings. 


IN  MEMO R I  AM. 


To  be  a  Christian  is  to  tent,  not  so  much  upon  the  very 
rim  of  eternity,  for  we  all  do  this,  as  upon  the  mystic 
borders  of  the  Paradise  of  God.  Death  is  indeed  material 
enough,  but  we  shall  be  false  to  our  divine  faith  if  we  do 
not  realize  how  entirely  it  has  changed  all  these  material 
finalities  for  a  Christian.  It  does  not  indeed  halt  death, 
nor  make  the  grave  unreal.  It  has  not  repealed  for  the 
Church  the  ancient  law  of  mortality.  Pain,  decay,  the 
assaults  of  sickness,  the  giving  up  of  the  ghost,  these  scenes 
funereal,  these  paths  of  silence,  this  personal  registering 
in  the  city  of  the  dead,  all  this  is  for  the  Church ;  but, 
for  her  sake,  "our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  abolished 
death."  "  Jesus  has  warmed  the  cold  bed  of  the  grave  so 
that  a  believer  need  not  fear  to  lie  down  in  it."  He  has 
in  personal  charge  the  dust  of  every  dead  believer,  as 
being  redeemed  dust.  Their  very  death  is  precious  in  His 
sight,  and,  as  they  disrobe  for  the  grave  and  pass  into  the 
silent  land,  they  simply  sleep  in  Him.  This  honor  have 
all  His  saints;  whatever  else  may  perish,  faith  does  not ; 
let  who  may  sink  in  the  swift  tides,  a  believer  cannot; 
there  are  angelic  escorts  for  his  departure ;  there  is  a  safe 
walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  ;  there  is 
light,  and  room,  and  citizenship,  and  coronation  beyond. 
The  Lord  Jesus  rises  from  his  throne  to  receive  the  soul 
whiHi  He  has  redeemed,  and  to  house  it  with  Himself 
forever. 

And,  of  all  this,  we  must  persuade  ourselves  at  such  an 
hour  as  this,  lest  the  scene  should  appear  a  gloomy  one, 
and  lest  we  should,  in  mistake,  take  up  our  dirge  instead 
of  some  stirring  psalm  of  hope  and  joy.  We  have  not 
come  here  with  any  such  poor  purpose  as  this.     We  are 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  />.  D. 


met,  indeed,  to  mourn,  but  it  is  for  ourselves.     There  is 
a  sacredness  in  sorrow.     The  tears  of  the  Church  go  into 
God's  bottle,  and  are  written  in  his  book.    This  widowed 
wife;   this  widowed   Church;   these  desolated  hearts   of 
child,  and  relative,  and  friend  ;   this  congregation  of  the 
Lord,  bereft  and  shepherdless ;   this  community  which  has 
met  now  its  greatest  loss ;  all  this  is  more  than  enough  to 
give  us  pause,   and  to  justify  the  sadness  of  this  hour. 
And  we  are  here  with  words  of  sympathy,  with  our  demon- 
strations of  respect.     We  have  come,  we  who  stood  with 
this  departed  friend  in   the  blessed   brotherhood  of  the 
ministry,  to  get  a  deepened  sense  of  the  solemnities  of 
our  position,  and  of  the  need  of  holy  haste  and  added 
energy  in  our  work.     So  close  has  the  Master  come,  that 
we  seem  almost  to  hear  His  departing  feet.     So  quickly 
have  the  gates  of  pearl  swung  open,  that  we  have  seemed 
almost  to  get  a  glimpse  of  that  which  is  within  the  city 
of  God.     It  was  a  sudden  exodus,  this.     It  was  a  very 
quick  exchange  of  night  for  day,  of  death  for  life,  of  age 
for  .eternal  youth,  of  toil  for  rest,  of  the  hoary  hairs, 
which  are  the  crown  of  glory,  to  the  righteous,  for  the 
golden  diadem  which  they  each  wear  who  are  kings  unto 
God,  and  of  the  peerage  of  the  sky. 

How  then,  believing  all  this,  shall  we  give  way  to  grief 
or  stain  the  lustre  of  a  spectacle  like  this  with  the  badges 
of  the  world's  poor  sorrow.  I  will  venture  to  say,  that 
there  was  not  one  of  us,  who,  when  he  heard  of  what  had 
transpired  so  quickly  here  at  the  turn  of  the  night,  a  few 
hours  ago,  but  thought  of  the  translation  scene  of  Enoch, 
who,  while  he  was  walking  with  God,  presently  "was 
not,  because  God  hadj:aken  him." 


IN  MEMO  R I  AM. 


I  do  not  understand  that  I  am  here  to  day  to  pronounce 
a  eulogy  upon  our  brother,  or  to  give  to  you  a  detailed 
account  of  his  remarkable  ministry.  A  service  of  this 
kind  will,  doubtless,  be  provided  for,  as  it  should  be.  But 
I  may  say  a  few  things  of  him  which  will  command  the 
assent  of  all. 

i.  The  simple  fact  standing  by  itself,  of  a  ministry 
of  nearly  half  a  century,  is  most  suggestive.  This  is  a 
monument  better  far  than  brass  or  marble.  It  would  be 
a  passport  anywhere  to  be  able  to  say  of  one  that  he  had 
stood  sentinel  on  his  post,  walking  his  one  beat,  with  his 
face  towards  the  foe,  and  guarding  hallowed  interests  for 
nearly  five  decades.  It  is  not  fulsome  eulogy  to  say  that 
no  ordinary  characters  could  do  this.  Men  commonly 
do  not  wear  thus.  This  is  an  age  of  change.  Men  are 
restless,  and  the  visible  Church  is  largely  restless,  demand- 
ing novelties,  growing  weary  of  the  same  voice  and  the 
same  manner  and  of  the  familiar  methods  of  handling 
truth,  so  that  the  ministry  itself  has  become  largely  no- 
madic, almost,  under  this  demand  for  new  men  and  new 
mannerisms  and  new  spiritual  caterers.  And  it  is  the 
glory,  alike  of  our  departed  brother  and  of  this  church, 
that,  with  changes  and  ruptured  pastoral  ties  and  enforced 
itinerancy  all  around,  they  have  stood  for  almost  the  half 
of  a  century  strong  in  the  holy  covenant  which  joins  pas- 
tor and  people.  There  must  be  something  positive  and 
forceful  in  a  mere  man  who  can  thus  hold  his  place  year 
by  year  until  nearly  forty-eight  of  these  have  been  counted. 
For,  though  we  who  stand  to  feed  the  flock  of  God  draw, 
indeed,  upon  the  infinite  supply,  though  the  things  new 
as  well  as  old  are  in  His  treasury,  still  it  is  not  every 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGff,  D.  />. 


shepherd  who  is  competent  to  feed  and  guard  so  long, 
nor  every  scribe  who  is  so  instructed  unto  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  as  to  be  able  either  to  re-produce  the  old  or 
to  bring  forth  the  new  to  the  same  minds  for  half  a  cen- 
tury. Our  brother  was  enabled  to  do  this,  and  the  Mas- 
ter who  kept  him  on  this  one  watchtower  so  long,  and 
tending  this  one  flock  so  long,  would  have  us  speak  of  this 
to-day.  If  Dr.  Creigh  had  no  tablet  but  this,  it  would  be 
enough — "  Pastor  here  for  nearly  eighteen  thousand  days." 
2.  But  he  excelled  as  a  pastor.  The  most  of  us,  per- 
haps, fail  here.  He  had,  indeed,  this  advantage  over  some 
of  us,  in  that  he  came  to  his  ministry  in  those  better  days 
when  the  professed  people  of  God  were  willing  to  be  led 
and  supervised;  when  it  was  thought  that  housing  and 
limitation,  that  restraint  and  restraint  were  as  necessary 
for  the  flock  of  God  as  the  liberty  of  the  largest  pasturage; 
when  youth  and  age  were  not  regarded  as  convertible 
terms,  and  when  Religion  was  a  queen  rather  than  a  feeble 
commoner.  And  so  this  pastor  set  out  not  simply  to  feed 
a  flock  of  God,  but  to  lead  it,  too.  The  men  and  women 
of  his  generation  had  a  deep  conviction  of  the  fact  that 
authority  and  power  and  discipline  inhere  in  the  very 
idea  of  the  Church,  and  that  that  is  not  religion  which  is 
limited  to  the  Sabbath,  and  which  has  only  the  public 
altars  and  the  vagueness  of  an  indefinite  creed.  With 
such  views,  therefore,  our  brother  set  himself  to  have  his 
church  not  pure  simply,  but  practical ;  not  devout  and 
correct  merely,  asunder  the  eye  of  the  public,  but  worship- 
ful and  religious  at  home.  He  taught,  indeed,  from  house 
to  house.  He  grappled  the  youth  to  him  with  hooks  of 
steel,  drawing  them  with  an  authority  born  of  grace  and 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


tempered  with  love,  and  holding  them  they  knew  not 
how.  Dr.  Creigh  had  the  old-fashioned  and  scriptural 
idea  of  the  children's  place  in  the  covenant  and  in  the 
visible  Church.  And  I  do  not  know  a  man  who  was  so 
successful  as  he  in  catechetical  instruction,  as  the  means 
approved  of  God  for  bringing  the  youth  to  an  open 
personal  taking  of  those  obligations  under  which  parents 
had  come  for  them. 

We  all  know  that  he  had  rare  gifts  for  all  pastoral  work. 
Again  and  again  have  we  heard  him  in  his  place  in  the 
Presbytery,  when  addressing  the  students  of  theology  or 
when  the  "state  of  religion  in  our  churches"  was  under 
discussion,  urge  the  importance  of  caring  for  the  young, 
of  pastoral  visitation,  of  making  much  of  that  part  of 
our  work  which  lies  outside  of  the  pulpit.  In  all  this  he 
led  the  way,  and  set  us  an  example  which  we  fain  would 
copy ;  and  yet  no  one  of  us  was  more  fond  of  his  Library. 
He  had  his  books,  and  he  knew  what  was  in  them.  Warmly 
attached  as  he  was  to  the  old  divines,  sitting  at  the  feet  of 
such  strong  thinkers  and  such  complete  theologues  as  Owen 
and  Howe,  and  Bates  and  Baxter,  he  was  at  home  in  the 
modern  literature  which  has  to  do  with  our  sacred  work. 

3.  As  a  preachertf  the  Gospel,  our  brother  was  marked 
by  earnestness,  by  great  simplicity,  by  purity  of  style,  and 
by  an  unction,  the  richness  of  which  told  of  the  power 
upon  him  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  last  sermon  which  I 
heard  from  him,  was  upon  the  occasion  of  our  visit  as  a 
committee  of  Presbytery  to  the  Market  Square  Church  of 
Harrisburg,  in  December  last.  It  was  upon  the  words 
in  the  Canticles,  v,  3,  "I  have  put  off  my  coat,  how 
shall  I  put  it  on ;"  and  in  it  he  sought,  with  very  earnest 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  D.  13 

words,  to  stir  the  sluggish  soul  to  rise  and  respond  to  the 
renewed  love  of  a  slighted  Saviour.  In  the  "  Historical 
Discourse"  delivered  by  him  in  July,  1876,  he  refers  to 
the  fact,  that  on  taking  charge  of  the  church  in  the  year 
1 83 1,  his  first  sermon  was  from  1  Cor.,  ii,  2,  and  he 
makes  this  remark  :  "  I  have  adhered,  as  far  as  the  grace 
of  God  has  enabled  me,  to  the  purpose  enunciated  in  my 
introductory  discourse  to  this  church,  and  in  the  prayerful 
study  of  '  the  form  of  sound  words,'  viz  :  The  Confession 
of  Faith,  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  the  Form 
of  Government  and  Book  of  Discipline,  and  comparing 
these  with  the  word  of  God,  I  am  more  and  more  fully 
confirmed  in  their  truthfulness,  and  see  their  peculiar  ad- 
aptation to  our  present  earthly  condition  and  in  preparing 
us  for  our  everlasting  home,  and  in  this  faith  I  hope  to 
die."  In  it  he  did  die,  preaching  to  the  last  those  great 
truths  and  doctrines  which  he  began  to  preach  here  nearly 
fifty  years  ago. 

4.  It  remains  to  say  of  our  brother,  that  he  was  indeed 
"a  holy  man  of  God."  The  simplicity  of  spirit  which 
was  natural  to  him,  grace  had  sanctified,  adding  its  own 
purity  and  adorning  his  character  with  the  celestial  virtues. 

Our  brother  was  proverbially  refined,  of  the  most  deli- 
cate sensibilities,  gentle,  courteous,  kind.  He  had  largely 
the  loftier  instincts  and  much  of  that  power  of  presence 
which  comes  of  grace.  One  was  put  in  mind  by  him  of 
what  Cowper  sings  : 

When  one  who  holds  communion  with  the  skies 
Has  filled  his  urn,  whence  these  pure  waters  rise, 
And  once  more  mingles  with  us  meaner  things, 
T'is  even  as  if  an  Angel  shook  his  wings ; 
Immortal  fragrance  fills  the  circuit  wide, 
And  tells  us  whence  his  treasures  are  supplied. 


14  IN  MEMORIAM. 


He  had  lived  long,  yet,  though  many  winters  had  sifted 
their  snows  upon  him  so  that  his  head  was  whitened  indeed, 
we  never  thought  of  him  as  being  old.  It  was  well  said 
of  him  that  he  grows  old  gracefully. 

He  had  indeed  "served  his  own  generation  by  the  will 
of  God,"  then  suddenly  he  fell  asleep,  and  went  to  be  with 
Christ,  which  is  far  better.  And  we  are  here  to-day,  these 
many  hundreds  of  us,  to  lay  him  tenderly  to  rest  in  God's 
acre,  in  his  sepulchre,  among  the  buried  believers,  in 
the  assured  hope  of  a  blessed  resurrection.  We  mourn 
••not  as  those  who  have  no  hope;  for  if  we  believe  that 
Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them  also* who  sleep  in 
Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him."  To  Him  do  we  com- 
mend you  all,  and  to  the  word  of  his  grace.  May  He 
help  you  to  realize  that  what  is,  is  best,  and  to  say  (,it  is 
the  Lord,  let  him  do  what  seemeth  Him  good." 

"All  is  of  God;  if  He  but  wave  His  hand 

The  mists  collect,  the  rains  fall  thick  and  loud, 
Till,  with  a  smile  of  light  on  sea  and  land, 
Lo!   He  looks  back  from  the  departing  cloud. 

Angels  of  Life  and  Death  alike  are  His; 

Without  His  leave  they  pass  no  threshhold  o'er; 
Who,  then,  would  wish  or  dare,  believing  this, 

Against  His  messengers  to  shut  the  door!" 


MEMORIAL  DISCOURSE, 

BY 

Rev.  T.  H.  ROBINSON,  D.  D., 

Given  at  Mercersburg,  July  4,  1880. 


And  now,  behold,  I  know  that  ye  all,  among  whom  I  have  gone 
preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  shall  see  my  face  no 
more.  *****  And  they  all  wept  sore,  and  fell  on  Paul's 
neck  and  kissed  him,  sorrowing  most  of  all  for  the  words  which  he 
spake,  that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more.— Acts  xx :  25,  37, 
38. 

Scarcely  in  the  records  of  human  history  can  there  be 
found  a  more  impressive  and  touching  scene  than  the 
parting  of  Paul  with  the  Elders  at  Ephesus.  The  great 
missionary  apostle  was  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem,  in  haste 
to  reach  there,  if  possible,  at  Pentecost.  As  his  vessel 
touches  at  different  ports  on  her  southward  course,  he 
gathers  around  him  the  disciples  of  Christ  for  some  part- 
ing words  of  kindly  encouragement  and  warning. 

Ephesus  lay  back  from  the  sea  coast  some  thirty  miles, 
and  finding  that  the  vessel  would  be  detained  at  Miletus, 
the  seaport  town,  long  enough  for  a  visit  from  the  leaders 
of  the  Church  at  Ephesus,  immediately  upon  its  arrival 
he  sent  for  them.  Great  must  have  been  the  excitement 
and  gladness  when  the  Ephesian  Christians  heard  that  their 


ib  IN  MEMORIAM. 


beloved  teacher  and  friend  was  but  a  few  miles  away. 
They  recalled  the  years  he  had  spent  among  them,  and 
eager  to  look  upon  his  face  the  Elders  of  the  Church  has- 
tened to  Miletus.  They  gathered  around  their  venerated 
instructor,  probably  in  some  solitary  spot  upon  the  shore, 
to  listen  once  more  to  his  beloved  voice.  Paul's  address 
to  them  is  given  at  considerable  length,  and  is  a  rich  and 
precious  legacy  to  the  Church  of  all  lands  and  all  ages. 
It  is  the  valedictory  of  a  faithful  and  loving  Minister  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  the  flock  over  which  he  had  been  a  shep- 
herd for  several  years,  and  is  one  of  the  most  tender, 
solemn,  and  impressive  discourses  in  the  New  Testament. 
Its  value  for  every  age  lies  in  the  lessons  it  gives  us  upon 
the  nature  of  ministerial  work,  the  fidelity  of  the  true  ser- 
vants of  God,  and  the  deep  and  ardent  attachment  that 
should  exist  between  the  Christian  pastor  and  his  people. 
Paul  had  labored  longer  at  Ephesus  than  in  any  other 
city.  He  had  been  eminently  faithful,  and  felt  an  undy- 
ing love  for  his  spiritual  children  in  that  city,  and  a  deep 
anxiety  for  the  future  welfare  of  the  Church.  He  was 
now  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem,  knowing  well  the  dangers 
that  awaited  him  there,  for  as  he  passed  from  Church  to 
Church,  prophetic  voices  announced  that  bonds  and  im- 
prisonments were  before  him.  But  these  do  not  alarm 
him.  With  the  mournful  presentiment  upon  him  that  he 
should  never  see  them  again,  he  gives  them  a  brief  review 
of  his  ministry  while  at  Ephesus,  reminding  them  how, 
from  the  first  day  of  his  coming,  he  had,  with  all  humil- 
ity and  amid  many  tears  and  temptations,  served  the 
Lord,  and  withheld  from  them  nothing  that  was  needful 
for  their  spiritual  profit  and  happiness;   but  had,  publicly 


Kev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  />.  17 

and  privately,  from  house  to  house,  preached  the  whole 
way  of  life.  He  summons  them  to  bear  witness  to  the 
truth  of  his  words.  It  was  in  no  spirit  of  boasting  and 
of  vain  glory  that  he  spoke  ;  rather  was  it  in  the  spirit  of 
truest  humility.  True  lowliness  of  heart  does  not  consist 
in  ignoring  one's  own  virtues  and  labors,  but  rather  in  re- 
ferring them  to  the  rich  free  grace  of  God  as  their  source. 
Paul  was  conscious  of  great  fidelity  of  heart  towards  the 
Lord  and  his  Church.  He  appeals  to  these  men  who  had 
known  so  well  his  manner  of  life  among  them  for  three 
years',  how  faithful,  how  earnest,  how  upright,  how  labor- 
ious he  had  been. 

He  now  announces  his  separation  from  them.  The 
thought  that  it  is  a  final  one  affects  him.  It  colors  his 
memories  of  the  past,  and  gives  force  to  his  counsels  for 
the  future.  But  he  is  comforted  with  the  assurance  that 
he  had  declared  in  Ephesus  the  whole  counsel  of  God, 
and  was  pure  from  the  blood  of  all  men.  He  had 
preached  and  warned  and  prayed,  day  and  night  with 
tears  and  great  faithfulness.  He  had  done  his  full  duty. 
If  any  in  Ephesus  failed  to  hear  the  Gospel,  if  any  per- 
ished in  their  sins,  it  was  not  through  any  indifference 
or  carelessness  of  his.  He  now  exhorts  the  elders  to  new 
heed  unto  themselves,  and  increased  care  and  fidelity  to- 
ward the  Church  which  the  Lord  had  purchased  with  his 
blood,  and  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  committed  to  them. 
He  reminds  them  of  coming  dangers,  of  grievous  wolves 
that  would  enter  the  fold  and  seek  the  destruction  of  the 
flock.  The  close  of  the  discourse  is  followed  by  a  sol- 
emn act  of  united  prayer.  They  all  knelt  down  upon 
the  sand,  and  Paul  prayed  with  them  and  for  them,  com- 
2 


i8  IX  MEMORIAM. 


mending  them  to  the  grace  and  protection  of  Almighty 
God,  and  rising  to  their  feet  there  followed  a  touching  out- 
break of  natural  grief,  which  their  christian  faith  and  resig- 
nation did  not  restrain.  They  fell  upon  the  apostle's 
neck  and  clung  to  him  and  kissed  him  again  and  again, 
"sorrowing  most  of  all  for  the  words  which  he  spake, 
that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more." 

It  would  be  presumption  for  any  modern  preacher  of 
the  Gospel  to  bring  his  life  and  labors  into  comparison 
with  those  of  him  who  was  "in  nothing  behind  the  very 
chiefest  apostles."  And  no  one  would  more  sensitively 
shrink  from  such  an  act,  than  would  our  beloved  Dr. 
Creigh,  whose  nature  was  full  of  the  lowliness  of  self- 
depreciation.  But  while  none  may  rival  Paul  in  the  rare- 
ness of  his  genius,  in  the  ardour  of  his  heart,  and  the 
greatness  of  his  achievments,  we  may  yet  see  in  many  of 
Christ's  ministers  something  of  the  same  honesty  of  pur- 
pose, the  same  consecration  of  soul,  and  the  same  high 
endeavor  to  make  full  proof  of  their  ministry. 

There  walked  one  among  you,  for  nearly  fifty  years,  a 
man  who  had  surrendered  himself  to  Christ,  and  bowed 
to  his  authority ;  a  man  who  set  his  hand  to  the  work  of 
the  ministry  among  you  diligently,  constantly,  in  love  of 
Him  who  had  appointed  it,  and  in  love  of  you  to  whom 
he  was  sent ;  a  man  who  went  conscientiously  on  resting 
on  the  wisdom  and  verity  of  God;  a  man  modest,  un- 
assuming, quiet  in  all  his  ways,  full  of  sympathy  and  ten- 
derness for  you  all ;  a  man  who  in  word  and  life  was  ever 
sowing  divine  seed  among  you,  laying  foundations  for  you 
to  build  upon,  digging  around  the  roots  of  character  in  you 
that  he  might  present  you  faultless  before  God ;  wearied 


Rev.  THOMAS  CKEICII,  I).  /).  //? 

often  in  his  work,  never  of  it,  working  "  in  fear  and  much 
trembling,"  yet  faithful  to  the  last,  and  now  he  is  not,  for 
God  has  taken  him,  and  Christ  has  crowned  him.  For 
nearly  half  a  century  he  was  your  pastor  and  guide,  giving 
you  the  enthusiasm  of  his  youth,  the  strength  of  his  riper 
years,  and  the  gathered  experience  and  wisdom  of  age. 
Outliving  most  of  the  men  and  women  who  welcomed 
him  here  in  his  youth  and  listened  to  his  ordination  vows, 
he  survived  until  a  new  generation  surrounded  him.  The 
children  were  in  the  place  of  the  fathers.  Change  had 
followed  change.  Those  upon  whom  he  had  sprinkled  the 
waters  of  baptism  had  grown  to  be  stalwart  men  and 
mothers  of  households.  He  had  solemnized  the  marriage 
of  parents  and  then  of  their  children.  He  had  counseled 
at  firesides,  and  prayed  in  the  sick-room,  and  buried  the 
dead  of  two  generations.  The  spiritual  father  of  a  mul- 
titude, the  wise  and  trusted  teacher  of  many  hundreds, 
and  the  holy  exemplar  for  thousands ;  after  bringing  forth 
from  the  treasury  of  the  Gospel  for  half  an  hundred  years 
its  riches  of  grace  and  comfort,  he  has  gone,  with  the 
gathered  wealth  of  years,  to  join  that  communion  to  which 
so  many  of  his  flock  had  already  departed. 

The  difficult  but  grateful  duty  has  been  assigned  me  of 
presenting  a  record  of  his  life  and  labors,  and  expressing 
my  estimate  of  his  character.  My  effort  is  greatly  aided 
by  the  records  of  a  diary  faithfully  kept  for  over  thirty- 
three  years,  an  autobiography  prepared  for  his  children, 
and  other  memoranda  in  his  own  hand  writing  and  that  of 
his  brother,  Dr.  Alfred  Creigh,  of  Washington,  Pa. 

Let  us  turn,  first,  to  some  facts  in  the  family  and  per- 
sonal history  of  Dr.   Creigh. 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


The  name  Creigh  is  of  German  origin,  and  signifies  war, 
or  warrior.  In  the  reign  of  James  I,  1603-1625,  the 
family  of  Creigh,  being  Protestant  in  faith,  left  Germany 
because  of  religious  troubles,  and  emigrated  to  Scotland. 
Here  they  remained  for  about  sixty  years,  when  that 
branch  of  the  family  from  which  Thomas  Creigh  de- 
scended, removed  to  Ireland,  and  settled  on  lands  between 
Belfast  and  Carrickfergus,  in  the  county  of  Antrim.  A 
part  of  the  original  family  remained  in  Scotland  and  gave 
their  name  to  one  of  its  towns. 

The  great-great-grandfather  of  Dr.  Creigh,  John  Creigh, 
was,  in  17 19,  a  ruling  elder  in  Carmony  Church,  five  miles 
from  Belfast.  His  son,  Thomas  Creigh,  was  also  an 
elder  in  the  same  church  in  1740,  as  the  records  of  that 
church,  which  are  still  in  existence,  show.  John  Creigh 
of  the  third  generation,  the  son  of  Thomas,  removed 
from  Ireland  to  this  country  in  1761,  arriving  in  Philadel- 
phia, May  19.  He  settled  permanently  in  Carlisle,  Cum- 
berland county,  bringing  with  him  a  certificate  of  church 
membership  from  the  Carmony  Church,  dated  March  1, 
1 761,  signed  by  the  Rev.  John  Thompson.  The  grand- 
father was  a  man  of  high  character  and  more  than  ordinary 
ability,  and  speedily  took  a  prominent  place  in  social  and 
civil  life  and  in  the  Church.  He  brought  with  him,  as 
did  most  of  the  emigrants  from  Scotland  and  Ireland, 
enlarged  ideas  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  a  thor- 
ough hostility  to  despotic  forms  of  government  in  Church 
and  State.  Believing  that  the  State  was  created  for  man 
and  not  man  for  the  State,  he  took  at  once  an  active  part 
in  defense  of  the  rights  of  the  colonies  against  the  tyrannies 
of  the  British  Crown,  entering  the  army  for  the  protection 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  D. 


of  American  liberty.  He  filled  the  offices  both  of  lieu- 
tenant and  lieutenant  colonel.  His  commission  is  dated 
April  29,  1776,  and  is  signed  by  John  Morton,  Speaker 
of  the  Assembly.  In  June,*  776,  he  had  the  distinguished 
honor  of  being  one  of  the  representatives  of  Cumberland 
county,  to  the  Convention  of  the  Province  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, held  in  Carpenter's  Hall,  Philadelphia,  from  June 
18,  1776,  to  June  25,  1776,  in  which  it  was  unanimously 
declared  that  the  colony  of  Pennsylvania  was  free  and 
independent  of  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain.  This  decla- 
ration of  independence  ante-dated  the  famous  one  of  July 
4,  1776,  made  by  the  American  Congress.  It  was  signed 
by  the  ninety-eight  members,  and  among  those  honored 
names  is  that  of  John  Creigh.  Subsequently  he  joined  his 
regiment,  marched  with  it  through  New  Jersey,  united 
with  the  Continental  forces,  and  was  engaged  at  the  battle 
of  Germantown  and  in  several  other  conflicts.  Returning 
to  his  home  during  the  following  year,  he  was  commis- 
sioned as  associate  judge  of  the  county  of  Cumberland, 
and  retained  the  office  until  his  death,  February  13,  18*3. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Carlisle  for  fully  a  half  century,  and  was  chosen  as  a  rul- 
ing elder  in  it,  serving  it  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Robert  Davidson. 

The  maternal  grandfather  of  Dr.  Creigh,  John  Dunbar, 
was  also  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  a  ruling  elder  of  the 
First'  Presbyterian  Church  of  Carlisle,  and  of  the  same 
sturdy  Scotch-Irish  race.  His  father,  William  Dunbar, 
came  to  this  country  in  1730,  and  a  few  years  later  settled 
near  Carlisle.     The  son  John  died  June  2,  1810. 

Dr.  John  Creigh,  son  of  Judge  Creigh,  and  the  father 


IN  MEMORIAM 


of  Thomas  Creigh,  was  a  physician  of  high  standing  and 
large  practice.  He  was  born  at  the  opening  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary war,  1773  ;  pursued  a  collegiate  course,  gradu- 
ating with  high  honors  from  Dickinson  College,  in  1792, 
before  he  had  completed  his  nineteenth  year.  Three 
years  later,  1795,  he  completed  a  medical  course  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  entered  at  once  upon 
the  practice  of  his  prosession.  His  wife  was  Eleanor 
Dunbar.  The  young  physician  practiced  for  a  brief  time 
at  Pittsburgh,  and  at  Lewistown,  but  in  1799,  removed 
to  Sherman's  Valley,  Perry  county,  then  a  part  of  Cum- 
berland county,  and  for  the  succeeding  twenty  years  made 
his  home  at  Landisburg.  In  addition  to  the  honors  won 
in  his  profession,  no  less  than  five  of  the  Governors  of 
the  Commonwealth  conferred  upon  him  offices  of  honor 
and  trust  in  the  State.  When  Washington  was  burned 
by  the  British  forces,  in  181 4,  Dr.  Creigh,  in  two  days, 
enrolled  a  company  of  militia,  offered  their  services  to 
Governor- Snyder,  and  was  accepted,  he  himself  being  as- 
signed the  second  post  of  honor  in  the  Pennsylvania  Line. 

While  he  resided  at  Landisburg,  Thomas  Creigh  was 
born,  September  9,  1808,  the  seventh  child  in  a  family  of 
six  sons  and  four  daughters.  Of  these  but  three  now  sur- 
vive, one  sister  and  two  brothers,  Hon.  John  D.  Creigh, 
of  California,  and  Dr.  Alfred  Creigh,  of  Washington, 
Pennsylvania. 

Sherman's  Valley,  for  a  half  century,  or  from  the  close 
of  the  Indian  wars  about  1765,  had  been  filling  up  with 
Scotch-Irish  settlers  of  earnest  and  rugged  type  and  chris- 
tian character.  The  Rev.  John  Linn  was  then  in  the 
midst  of  his  long  and  faithful  pastorate  of  the  churches  in 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  J).  D.  23 

the  upper  end  of  the  valley,  and  at  his  hands  THOMAS 
Creigh  received  baptism  while  in  his  infancy.  As  there 
was  no  Church  at  Landisburg,  the  family  of  Dr.  John 
Creigh  attended  the  Sabbath  services  at  Centre  Church, 
four  miles  distant,  save  when  their  pastor  preached  in 
some  private  house  at  Landisburg. 

In  a  too  brief  auto-biography  left  by  Dr.  Creigh  to  his 
children,  he  speaks  with  a  tender  affection  of  his  early 
home,  of  the  very  house  where  he  was  born,  of  his  school- 
boy days,  and  especially  of  the  ties  that  drew  him  away 
from  the  out-door  sports  of  the  boys  of  his  age  to  the  side 
of  his  mother.  He  was  a  quiet,  sober-minded  boy,  mani- 
festing in  early  life  that  gentle  seriousness  of  disposition 
which  characterized  him  through  life.  The  first  eleven 
years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  Sherman's  Valley,  where  he 
received  the  elements  of  a  good  English  education.  In 
that  day  country  schools  were  limited  in  their  power.  Dr. 
Creigh  saw  his  large  family  growing  up  around  him  de- 
prived of  the  intellectual  training  which  he  desired  for  them. 
To  give  them  better  advantages  he  abandoned  his  valley 
home,  and  in  1819,  removed  to  Carlisle.  It  was  an  im- 
portant step  in  the  history  of  his  children,  affecting  all 
their  subsequent  life. 

Three  years  longer  were  spent  by  Thomas  Creigh  in 
the  public  schools.  In  the  summer  of  1822,  being  then 
Sn  his  fourteenth  year,  he  entered  the  grammar  school 
connected  with  Dickinson  College,  and  two  years  later, 
September,  T824,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Freshman  class, 
and  four  years  subsequently  completed  his  college  course, 
receiving  his  first  degree  of  the  arts  September  24,  1828, 
having  just  entered  upon  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  age. 


24  IN  MEMOKIAM. 


The  subject  of  his  graduating  oration  was  "Maternal  In- 
fluence," and  was  a  testimony  to  that  silent  and  loving 
power,  which,  for  more  than  twenty  years  had  been  at  the 
work  of  molding  his  character  and  life. 

Of  the  graduating  class,  numbering  twenty-one,  eight 
entered  the  ministry.  One  of  them,  Rev.  Dr.  VV.  H. 
Campbell,  has,  for  many  years,  been  an  honored  professor 
in  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  at  New  Brunswick. 

Fifty  years  passed  ere  these  college  classmates,  Crkigh 
and  Campbell,  met.  They  had  become  venerable  and 
honored  men  in  the  Church,  and  it  was  now  with  diffi- 
culty that  they  recognized  each  other.  They  then  re- 
called the  incidents  of  college  days,  noted  the  wonderful 
leadings  of  Providence  with  them  for  a  half  century,  in- 
quired for  each  other's  welfare  and  the  history  of  their 
families,  praised  the  grace  of  God,  then  grasped  each 
other's  hands  in  mutual  blessing  and  farewell  to  meet  no 
more  on  earth.  It  was  a  touching  scene,  which  one  who 
witnessed  it  will  never  forget. 

The  early  life  and  school-boy  days  of  Thomas  Creigh 
had  been  marked  by  many  tender  and  serious  religious  im- 
pressions. The  restraints  of  home  and  of  Divine  grace 
preserved  him  from  all  immoralities,  and  kept  him  rev- 
erent toward  religious  things.  Very  often  conscience  was 
awakened,  and  his  mind  was  filled  with  concern  for  his 
salvation.  Providences,  such  as  the  death  of  a  sister,  in 
very  early  life,  and  the  death  of  a  brother,  in  later  years, 
startled  him  and  sent  him  anew  to  his  Bible  and  to  prayer. 
The  preaching  of  his  pastor,  Dr.  Duffield,  often  searched 
and  alarmed  him,  robbing  him  of  all  peace  of  mind  and 


Rev.  THOMAS  Ch'E/C//,  D.  D.  25 

driving  him  to  secret  (  onfessions  and  supplications  to  ( rod. 
During  the  larger  part  of  his  college  course  the  deep  in- 
ternal struggle  of  the  soul,  seeking  rest  and  getting  none; 
yearning  for  peace  and  finding  it  not;  careless  for  a  little 
time,  then  troubled  afresh  and  more  deeply,  went  on; 
prayers,  vows,  tears,  reading  the  Bible  upon  his  knees, 
opening  it  at  random  in  the  vain  hope  that  God  would 
direct  his  eyes  to  light  upon  some  word  of  comfort ;  reso- 
lutions taken  again  and  again  in  his  own  strength  and  as 
often  snapped  assunder  by  a  deceitful  heart ;  the  proud 
efforts  of  a  determined  and  self-rightecus  will  to  keep 
God's  law  ending  ever  in  disastrous  failure  ;  this  sad  strug- 
gle of  the  unhappy  and  convicted  soul  went  on,  until 
health  gave  way,  despondency  weighed  upon  him,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  put  away  his  books  and  to  seek  phy- 
sical health. 

This  in  kindness  and  love  God  gave  him,  but  left  him 
not  until  His  law,  the  divine  schoolmaster,  had  brought 
Thomas  Creigh  to  Christ.  He  came,  at  length,  wearied 
by  the  long  conflict ;  came,  feeling  that  he  was  but  a  poor, 
helpless,  condemned,  lost  sinner,  ready  now  to  accept  the 
unparalleled  grace  of  a  free  and  complete  salvation.  This 
lengthened  experience  in  conversion  was  doubtless  largely 
due  to  his  quiet  and  retiring  ways.  He  was  self-contained 
and  concealed  his  feeling  from  others,  often  passing  days, 
weeks,  and  months  without  opening  his  burdened  heart 
to  any  friend.  And  when  at  length  the  end  came,  and 
rest  was  given,  it  was  attended  by  no  raptures  or  ecsta- 
cies  of  soul,  no  bright  and  joyous  assurances  of  Divine 
acceptance.  It  was  only  the  ease  of  a  heart  from  which 
long  and  heavy  burdens  were  lifted  away,  and  the  peace 


2b  IN  MEMORIAL. 


of  a  soul  long  ruffled  and  tossed  by  storm  now  stilled  by  a 
divine  voice.  A  fixed  hatred  of  sin  took  possession  of  him, 
and  with  it  a  desire  to  be  holy,  to  be  created  in  the  image 
of  Jesus ;  a  desire  to  love  God  and  to  be  always  drawn  by 
the  cords  of  the  will  divine.  God  was  seen  in  new  and 
attractive  light.  The  plan  of  salvation  won  his  heartiest  ap- 
proval, and  bowing  his  will  completely,  Thomas  Creigh 
gave  the  glory  of  his  salvation  to  the  infinite  and  sovereign 
grace  of  God,  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  was  at  rest. 

With  these  views  and  feelings,  after  private  counsel 
with  his  pastor,  and  a  subsequent  interview  with  the  Ses- 
sion of  the  Church,  he  made  a  public  confession  of  his 
faith  and  was  received  into  the  communion  of  the  Church 
May  10,  1828. 

He  was  then  in  the  last  year  of  his  college  course. 
The  great  crisis  of  his  life  was  now  passed.  The  poles 
of  his  being  were  set,  and  the  ends  and  aims  of  life  were 
fully  determined.  It  only  remained,  having  completed 
his  college  course,  to  make  the  choice  of  a  profession. 
This,  too,  praise  be  to  the  secret  and  powerful  will  of 
God,  had  already  been  virtually  settled ;  for,  years  before, 
Thomas  Creigh  had  promised  his  Maker,  that  if  He  would 
make  him  a  child  of  His,  by  renewing  grace,  and  give 
him  the  needed  qualifications,  he  would  consecrate  him- 
self to  the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry.  God  had  gra- 
ciously taken  him  at  his  word,  and  he  could  now  say  with 
Paul,  "It  pleased  God,  who  separated  me  from  my 
mother's  womb,  and  called  me  by  His  grace,  co  reveal 
His  Son  in  me,  that  I  might  preach."  And  now,  confer- 
ring not  with  flesh  and  blood,  he  immediately  began  the 
special  preparation  for  his  life  work.     He  entered  upon 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D,  D.  27 

it  with  trembling  gladness,  feeling  that  he  was  shut  up  of 
God  to  it,  and  happy  amid  conscious  infirmities,  that  he 
could  see  no  other  path  for  his  feet. 

Hindered  by  the  providence  of  God  from  pursuing  his 
studies  in  a  theological  seminary,  he  entered  upon  them 
under  the  direction  of  his  pastor,  Rev  Dr.  Geo.  Duffield, 
in  the  fall  of  1828,  shortly  after  his  graduation  from  col- 
lege, and  on  Sept.  25,  of  the  same  year,  he  was  taken 
under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  John  M.  Krebs,  of  New  York,  was  for  some  time  a 
fellow  pupil  with  him  of  Dr.  Dufheld's.  From  the  auto- 
biography left  by  Dr.  Creigh,  we  learn  that  the  theologi- 
cal text-book  used  by  Dr.  Duffield  was  the  Scriptures  in 
the  original  tongues.  The  recitations  were  always  begun 
with  prayer  to  God  for  the  guidance  of  His  Holy  Spirit. 
Dr.  Creigh  was  compelled  in  subsequent  years  to  differ 
from  some  of  the  theological  views  of  his  early  preceptor, 
but  he  ever  spoke  with  great  tenderness  of  feeling  of  the 
happy  influence  of  this  "dear  man  of  God,"  as  he  calls 
him,  upon  the  development  of  his  own  religious  life. 

The  winter  of  1 829-1830  was  spent  at  the  Theological 
Seminary  in  Princeton,  under  the  instructions  of  those 
honored  servants  of  God,  Drs.  Alexander,  Miller,  and 
Hodge.  That  single  session  was  filled  with  the  closest 
study,  his  time  being  fully  engrossed.  Returning  home, 
he  continued  for  a  year  longer  a  course  of  reading  and 
study,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Duffield. 

The  great  Head  of  the  Church  had  now  for  him  a 
special  course  of  training,  that  proved  to  be  of  greatest 
value  in  his  subsequent  ministry.    Would  to  God  that  all 


28  IX  MEMO R JAM. 


our  theological  students  could  have  a  similar  blessed 
tuition  before  they  go  forth  among  the  Churches ! 

During  the  winter  of  1 830-1 831  and  the  spring  of  the 
latter  year,  the  Spirit  of  God  came  with  power  to  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Carlisle.  A  great  revival  of  re- 
ligi  m  among  the  people  of  God,  attended  by  a  great 
awakening  of  sinners,  was  the  result.  Thomas  Creigh 
was  drawn  into  the  very  heart  of  this  work  of  grace,  and 
for  months  he  lived  and  worked  and  rejoiced  amid  the 
happy  scenes  of  re-quickened  saints  and  of  sinners  com- 
ing home  to  God.  The  baptism  of  the  Spirit  fell  upon 
him.  The  convicted  and  the  inquiring  were  all  about 
him.  Divine  truth' and  human  experience  were  continu- 
ally brought  together.  The  Gospel  of  salvation  was  daily 
illustrated.  Divine  things  were  taught  him  in  God's 
marvellous  dealings  with  his  own  dear  people  and  with 
prodigals  of  the  world.  Theology  met  a  practical  appli- 
cation, and  for  months  Thomas  Creigh,  as  yet  unlicensed 
by  men,  was  called  of  God  to  preach  law  and  Gospel, 
guilt  and  redeeming  blood,  human  helplessness  and  divine 
grace,  to  dying  men.  It  was  a  divinity  school,  where  the 
Word  was  the  sole  text-book,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
the  Teacher. 

From  the  midst  of  tlfat  revival  Thomas  Ckeigh  came, 
and  on  the  nth  day  of  April,  1831,  made  application  to 
the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle,  then  in  session  at  Newville, 
for  licensure,  and  having  passed  the  required  examina- 
tions, was,  on  the  following  day,  April  12,  licensed  to 
preach  the  Gospel.  Two  other  young  men  were  examined 
and  licensed  at  the  same  time,  one  of  whom,  the  Rev. 
David  Mahon,  is  still  a  member  of  the  Presbytery ;  the 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGff,  D.  D.  29 

other,  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Davidson,  also  a  classmate  of  Dr. 
Creich's,  passed  away  from  earthly  labors  April  6,  1876. 

Although  Dr.  Creigh  lacked  the  benefit  of  that  full 
and  systematic  course  of  training  which  is  now  given  in 
our  theological  seminaries,  he  was  not  without  many 
compensations  for  it  during  the  years  of  his  probation. 
Chief  among  them  was  the  fact  that  he  had  been  sur- 
rounded in  the  Presbytery  by  an  array  of  godly  and  able 
men,  whose  names  the  Church  will  always  honor.  I  need 
but  mention  William  Paxton,  Joshua  Williams,  David 
Elliott,  Robert  Cathcart,  David  McConaughy,  Henry  R. 
Wilson,  George  Duffield,  and  others,  their  peers  in  con- 
secration and  usefulness,  if  not  in  ability.  Many  of  them 
were  men  of  great  natural  powers  and  of  large  attain- 
ments, and  stood  among  the  theologians  of  their  day. 
Into  the  fellowship  of  such  men  Thomas  Creigh  was  en- 
tered. After  his  licensure,  he  continued  to  prosecute  his 
studies  and  to  supply  the  pulpit  of  his  pastor  in  his  ab- 
sence. 

Having  been  appointed  by  the  Presbytery  to  preach  in 
the  Mercersburg  Church,  which  was  then  vacant  by  the 
resignation  of  its  pastor,  Dr.  Elliott,  he  fulfilled  the  ap- 
pointment, preaching  his  first  sermons  to  this  congregation 
on  the  7th  of  August,  1831.  The  morning  sermon,  given 
in  the  country  church,  was  on  the  text  Isaiah,  lv :  1 ,  ' '  Ho  ! 
every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  and  he 
that  hath  no  money,  come  ye,  buy  and  eat  ;  yea,  come, 
buy  wine  and  milk  without  money,  and  without  price." 
The  evening  sermon,  preached  in  town,  was  on  John,  iii, 
17,  "  For  God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn 
the  world,  but  that   the  world  through  Him  might  be 


jo  IN MEMORIAM. 


saved."  Both  of  these  discourses  were  on  the  freeness 
and  the  fullness  of  the  Gospel.  These  were  the  great 
themes  of  his  ministry  throughout  life. 

His  youth,  his  earnestness,  and  his  hearty  presentations 
of  truth,  touched  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  two  weeks 
later,  the  session  of  the  Church,  through  Maj.  John 
Brownson,  subsequently  a  greatly  beloved  friend  of  Dr. 
Creigh's,  invited  him  to  return  and  minister  to  the  Church 
again.  After  great  hesitation  on  the  score  of  his  own 
unfitness  and  his  fear  of  being  called  to  so  important  a 
charge,  he  came,  and  preached  a  third  sermon  from 
Ezekiel,  xxxiii,  1 1,  "  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  have 
no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked ;  but  that  the 
wicked  turn  from  his  way  and  live." 

On  Tuesday,  September  27,  1831,  the  Presbytery  met 
in  Carlisle,  and  greatly  to  the  surprise  of  the  young  li- 
centiate, he  was  presented  with  a  unanimous  call  to  the 
pastorate  of  this  Church.  That  call,  after  prayer  to  God 
and  counsel  with  friends,  was  accepted.  His  immediate 
predecessor  in  this  charge,  Rev.  Dr.  Elliott,  had  filled  the 
pastorate  over  seventeen  years,  and  had  greatly  endeared 
himself  to  the  people  as  an  able  and  instructive  preacher, 
and  an  earnest  and  sympathizing  pastor.  The  Church 
had  greatly  prospered  under  his  wise  and  energetic  leader- 
ship. It  was  no  small  tribute  to  the  ability  and  personal 
worth  of  Thomas  Creigh,  that,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
three,  and  while  still  a  licentiate,  he  should  be  called  to 
be  the  successor  of  such  men  as  Drs.  King  and  Elliott. 

The  day  having  been  appointed  for  his  ordination  and 
installation,  he  left  his  father's  house  on  the  5  th  of  No- 
vember,  1831,  with  great  fear  and  trembling,  reaching 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  D.  31 


here  the  next  day.  His  feelings  while  on  the  way  hither 
were  greatly  depressed  and  cast  down,  in  view  of  the 
weighty  responsibilities  which  he  had  assumed.  The 
journey  was  filled  with  prayers  and  cries  to  God  for  help. 
Recalling  that  memorable  horseback  journey  many  years 
after,  he  writes:  "O  my  God  and  Father,  how  I  cried 
unto  Thee  and  Thou  heardest  me ;  why,  O  why,  could  I 
not  trust  Thee  when  Thou  didst  assure  me,  '  Lo,  I  am  with 
thee  alway,  to  the  end  of  the  world.'  Forgive  me,  forgive, 
O  my  Master,  my  Master." 

His  heart  was  greatly  lightened  by  the  welcome  with 
open  arms  and  loving  hearts  which  he  received  from  the 
people.  On  the  16th  of  November,  the  Presbytery  met, 
concluded  the  examinations  preparatory  to  his  ordination, 
and  adjourned  until  the  next  day,  when  he  was  set  apart 
with  prayer  and  the  imposition  of  the  hands  of  the  Pres- 
bytery to  the  work  of  the  Gospel  Ministry,  and  was  then 
installed  as  the  third  in  a  noble  line  of  able  and  godly 
pastors  of  this  Church. 

Rev.  Robert  Kennedy  presided,  and  delivered  the 
charges  to  the  young  pastor  and  to  the  people.  Rev. 
John  McKnight  preached,  the  sermon,  and  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Henry  R.  Wilson  offered  the  ordaining  prayer.  That  day, 
with  its  solemn  consecration  and  holy  vows,  was  never 
forgotten.  Too  often,  in  our  own  times,  the  respons- 
ibilities of  a  christian  pastor  are  lightly  assumed  and  as 
lightly  cast  aside.  The  spirit  with  which  Thomas  Creigh 
entered  upon  his  work  here  may  be  best  seen  in  a  paper 
which  he  wrote  on  the  day  preceding  his  ordination  and 
installation.     It  is  headed  "  Desires." 

"As  a  creature,  I  would  desire  to  feel  my  entire  de- 


32  IN  MEMORIAM. 


pendence  on  God  continually  for  life,  health,  food,  rai- 
ment, friends,  reason,  and  every  other  blessing.  '  In  God 
we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.' 

"As  a  sinner,  I  would  desire  to  feel  that  my  salvation  is 
freely  of  grace  ;  that  I  have  no  righteousness  of  my  own  ; 
that  I  have  no  other  friend  than  Christ.  And  in  view  of 
these  things,  I  desire  ever  to  feel  those  sacred  obligations 
pressing  upon  me  that  '  being  bought  with  a  price,  even 
the  precious  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,'  I  a. a  in  duty 
bound  to  present  myself,  '  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  a  living 
sacrifice  to  God,  holy  and  acceptable.' 

"As  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  would  desire  to  feel 
how  unworthy  I  am  to  be  allowed  to  be  put  in  trust  with 
the  Gospel;  I  would  desire  ever  to  look  unto  Thee  for 
grace  and  strength  to  discharge  its  sacred  functions ;  I 
would  ever  feel  my  entire  dependence  on  the  Spirit  to 
own  and  apply  my  messages  and  my  labors ;  I  would  de- 
sire to  be  faithful,  and  to  feel  continually  my  awful  re- 
sponsibilities ;  I  would  desire  to  feel  intensely  for  the 
souls  of  my  fellow-beings,  who  are  perishing  around  me 
and  through  the  world;  I  would  desire  to  have  an  eye 
single  to  Thy  glory  in  their  conversion  ;  and  I  wou'd  de- 
sire to  consecrate  my  time,  my  talents,  and  my  abilities 
to  the  service  of  my  Master,  that  His  kingdom  may  come 
with  power  among  the  children  of  men,  and  Thy  Church, 
which  Thou  hast  bought  with  Thy  blood,  may  be  univer- 
sally established.  And  especially  would  I  desire  to  be  made 
instrumental  in  this  congregation  over  which  Thou  hast 
called  me  to  watch,  in  turning  many  sinners  from  death 
to  life,  and  in  building  up  thy  children  in  holiness. 

"All  these,  O  Lord,  if  my  heart  deceive  me  not,  do  I 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  D.  33 

desire.  All  these  <lo  I  seek  for,  and  for  all  these  things, 
through  Thy  grace,  will  I  labor.  Crown  them  with  suc- 
cess, and  '  not  unto  me,  not  unto  me,  but  unto  Thy  name,' 
shall  redound  all  the  honor  and  the  glory.  And  now, 
Thou  Great  Head  of  the  Church,  I  would  pray,  that  on 
the  coming  day,  Thou  wouldst  sustain  and  support  me. 
O  make  'perfect  Thy  strength  in  my  weakness.'  Give 
clear  discoveries  of  the  truth,  and  correct  and  proper 
views  of  the  duties  devolving  upon  me  as  a  member  of 
Christ.  The  Lord  be  with  me  according  to  his  promise, 
'  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.' 
And  may  these,  my  desires,  be  granted  for  Thy  Son's  sake. 
And  to  Thy  name,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  one 
God,  my  God  in  covenant,  be  ascribed  eternal  praise. 
Amen. 

"  November  16,  183 1." 

Happy  the  people  to  whom  God  sends  such  a  conse- 
crated servant  of  His  to  be  their  minister.  He  is  no 
heartless  hireling  bargaining  for  wages,  for  a  comfortable 
living,  for  accumulating  wealth,  or  for  human  applause. 
He  is  an  ambassador  of  Christ,  coming  to  deliver  His 
message  and  do  His  work.  It  was  with  a  true  consecra- 
tion of  heart  that  Thomas  Creigh  entered  upon  the  du- 
ties of  his  holy  office.  The  sacredness  and  solemnity  of 
the  step  most  deeply  impressed  him.  One  desire  filled  his 
soul :  To  make  Christ  known,  and  promote  Christ's  glory. 

Now  began  his  life-work.  The  preceding  years  of  col- 
lege and  theological  study,  of  troubled  religious  experi- 
ence, ending  in  peace  and  a  quiet  resting  on  Christ,  had 
been  only  the  years  of  divine  tuition  and  discipline  for 
him.  For  forty-eight  and  a  half  years  he  stood  here  as 
3 


34 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


the  messenger  of  God  and  the  guide  of  this  people.  More 
than  the  average  life-time  of  man  was  spent  in  teaching 
and  preaching  and  illustrating  the  Gospel  among  you,  with 
all  his  powers  of  mind,  and  with  admirable  qualities  of 
heart  freely  and  fully  given  to  the  blessed  service.  He  held 
back  nothing.  He  labored  for  others,  not  for  himself. 
His  life  among  you  was  a  living  witness  against  the 
world's  general  rule  of  self-seeking.  "Not  yours,  but 
you,"  might  be  written  on  all  those  years  of  ministerial 
faithfulness.  In  this  labor  he  put  up  with  inconveniences, 
endured  hardness,  gave  up  personal  rights,  trusting  in  the 
Lord.  Nearly  half  a  century  !  What  changes  he  saw  ! 
What  experiences  he  had  1  What  an  amount  of  good  and 
holy  work  he  did  !  He  was  no  ambitious,  restless  preacher 
grasping  at  fame,  eager  for  praise,  ready  for  new  fields, 
but  a  quiet,  earnest,  indefatigable  toiler,  weary  often, 
despondent  sometimes,  but  committing  himself,  his  work, 
and  his  people,  to  God  always. 

No  mere  statistics  can  set  forth  fairly  the  labors  of  any 
faithful  minister  of  Christ.  When  Dr.  Creich  began  his 
pastorate,  the  Church  roll  contained  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  families,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  commu- 
nicating members.  During  his  ministry  he  admitted  into 
the  communion  of  the  Church  on  profession  of  their 
faith,  seven  hundred  and  forty-four  persons,  and  by  cer- 
tificate from  other  churches,  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
three — a  total  of  one  thousand  and  seventeen.  Letters 
of  dismission  were  granted  to  four  hundred  and  forty 
persons  who  removed  from  the  bounds  of  the  Church, 
bearing  with  them  into  other  Churches  and  communities 
the  memory  and  power  of  his  teachings  and  life. 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  D.  jj 

During  this  long  ministry  among  you,  the  whole  num- 
ber of  baptisms  was  one  thousand  and  fifty-one,  of  which 
eight  hundred  and  forty-four  were  infant,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-seven  were  adult  baptisms.  The  number 
of  deaths  in  the  congregation  was  five  hundred  and 
eighty-five,  his  own  being  the  five  hundred  and  eighty- 
sixth.  Of  this  number  three  hundred  and  fifty-three  were 
members  of  the  Church.  This  number  shows  how  very 
large  a  proportion  of  the  people  to  whom  he  ministered 
were  brought  to  confess  Christ,  and  how  few  died  in  ac- 
knowledged unbelief.  If  we  join  with  this  number  of 
Church  members  in  full  communion,  those  who  died  in 
infancy  and  early  childhood,  we  have  a  visible  sign  of  the 
spiritual  and  eternal  value  of  the  life  and  labors  of  a  faith- 
ful servant  of  Jesus  Christ. 

His  pastoral  visits  in  the  congregation  during  the  years 
he  was  among  you,  amounted  to  about  fifteen  thousand, 
or  nearly  three  hundred  per  year. 

The  number  of  his  sermons  and  lectures  written  in  full 
or  given  from  outlines  was  about  thirty-five  hundred. 
These  figures  only  hint  at  the  story  of  a  well-filled,  use- 
ful, and  holy  life.  They  are  but  a  bare  record  that  must 
be  filled  up  with  studies  and  prayers,  with  counsels  and 
warnings,  with  tears  and  deep  anxieties  over  the  sinful 
and  wayward,  with  joys  and  thanksgivings  over  penitent 
prodigals,  faithful  Christians,  and  saints  dying  in  the 
triumphs  of  divine  faith. 

The  Lord  always  takes  care  of  such  a  man.  In  the 
first  flush  of  his  youthful  experience,  that  the  glory  of 
Christ  is  all  that  is  worth  living  for,  he  began  to  reap  the 
first  fruits  of  joy.     This  field  budded  and  blossomed  as  a 


IX  MEMORIAM. 


rose.  The  triumphs  of  grace  were  witnessed.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1832,  three  months  after  his  installation,  the  Church 
was  visited  with  a  gracious  and  mighty  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  continuing  during  the  year,  by  which  one 
hundred  and  seven  persons  were  brought  into  the  Church 
on  profession  of  their  faith. 

The  history  of  the  Church,  in  subsequent  years,  reveals 
several  like  gracious  visitations  of  God,  when  numbers 
were  brought  to  the  feet  and  into  the  fold  of  Christ. 

The  years  1835,  1843,  1848,  1850-1853,  1858-1859, 
1862-3,  1870,  1876,  and  1879,  were  all  blessed  years  of 
in-gathering.  Every  year  witnessed  some  special  tokens 
of  the  Divine  favor  upon  his  labors.  Some  years  were, 
peculiarly,  years  of  harvesting,  others,  years  of  seed  time 
and  cultivation,  years  of  instruction  and  building  up  of 
Christian  character,  years  as  necessary  and  perhaps  as 
glorious  as  any  other.  Patiently  this  servant  of  Christ 
wrought  on,  scattering  the  seed,  watering  the  plants,  in- 
voking the  Divine  blessing,  ready  for  every  good  work. 

He  was  a  devoted  friend  of  missions  both  home  and  for- 
eign, and  commended  the  enterprises  of  Christian  benevo- 
lence to  the  hearts  of  the  people.  He  was  eminently 
loyal  to  his  own  Church.  A  Presbyterian  by  family  de- 
scent, by  education,  and  by  intelligent  choice,  he  loved 
and  thoroughly  accepted  her  Calvinistic  forms  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  and  in  the  great  controversies  which,  nearly 
half  a  century  ago  divided  the  Church,  he  was,  by  strong 
conviction  and  the  conservative  tendencies  of  his  mind, 
an  Old  School  man.  Yet  towards  all  of  every  name,  who 
loved  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  sought  his  glory,  he  pre- 
served a  true  affection,  and  a  large  charity,   and  com- 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGHt  />.  D.  37 

mended  them  to  the  grace  of  God.  And  when  ten  years 
ago  the  divisions  of  the  Church  were  healed,  Dr.  Creigh 
welcomed  the  re-union  with  sincerest  joy. 

He  was  a  life-long  friend  and  earnest  advocate  of  a 
thorough  and  Christian  education,  encouraging  the  young 
men  of  his  congregation  to  pursue  higher  courses  of  study, 
and  drawing  quite  a  large  number  of  them  into  the  Chris- 
tian ministry.  As  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  Wilson  Female  College,  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  from  an 
early  period  in  its  history  until  his  death,  he  evinced  a 
deep  and  tender  concern  for  its  welfare  and  usefulness, 
and  was  ever  ready  to  make  any  possible  sacrifices  for  its 
prosperity.  Greatly  attached  to  this  Cumberland  Valley 
as  the  home  of  his  ancestry,  and  his  own  home  and  the 
field  of  his  life-long  labors;  rejoicing  in  its  natural  beau- 
ties, in  its  people,  its  churches  and  institutions,  he  gave 
to  its  welfare  his  prayers  and  labors  for  half  a  century. 
Its  history  was  familiar  to  him.  He  recalled  with  deep 
affection  the  honored  men  of  the  past.  Its  churches  were 
precious  in  his  sight,  and  to  the  people  of  the  valley  his 
name  will,  for  many  years  to  come,  recall  the  venerable 
form  of  a  beloved  servant  of  God,  whose  presence  was 
always  welcomed,  and  whose  ministrations  in  the  pulpit, 
at  the  table  of  communion,  in  the  places  of  social  prayer, 
and  in  times  of  revival,  were  greatly  prized. 

Dr.  Creigh  was  a  man  of  fine  personal  presence. 
Physically,  he  was  of  full  manly  size,  and  in  his  bearing 
and  courteous  manners,  at  all  times  inspired  respect.  He 
was  dignified  in  his  deportment,  yet  gentle  and  unassum- 
ing. His  face  was  handsome  and  genial,  and  when  the 
whitened  locks  of  age  had  gathered  the  glory  of  years 


S$  IN  MEMORIAM. 


upon  his  head,  and  his  countenance,  still  ruddy  with 
health,  beamed  with  the  kindness  and  love  of  his  warm 
and  Christian  heart,  all  classes  paid  him  the  tribute  of  in- 
voluntary homage  and  admiration. 

In  his  family  and  social  life,  he  was  an  example  to  all 
men.  His  home  felt  the  power  of  his  true  and  unchang- 
ing affections.  He  was  unselfish,  cheerful,  and  considerate 
for  the  welfare  of  all.  His  diary,,  written  in  the  unre- 
strained freedom  of  one  who  had  nothing  to  conceal,  dis- 
closes in  all  its  allusions  to  the  members  of  his  household, 
in  its  frequent  ejaculations  of  prayer  to  God  in  their  be- 
half or  of  thanksgiving  to  God  for  their  preservation,  how 
true  he  was  as  a  husband,  and  how  full  of  love  as  a  father. 

Dr.  Creigh  was  twice  married.  On  the  14th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1833,  to  Ann  Hunter  Jacobs,  daughter  of  James 
O.  and  Margaret  Jacobs,  of  Lancaster  county,  Pa.  This 
union  was  severed  by  death,  October  16,  1836. 

His  second  marriage,  November  29,  1837,  was  with 
Jane  McClelland  Grubb,  who  survives  him.  Six  children 
were  given  him  of  God,  of  whom  three  preceded  him, 
dying  in  the  covenant  faith  of  the  Church.  The  surviv- 
ing three  are,  Rev.  James  Jacob  Creigh,  Rector  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  Conshohocken,  Montgomery  county, 
Pa. ;  Alfred  Creigh,  general  manager  of  Goraman's  whole- 
sale and  retail  drug  store,  in  Omaha,  Nebraska;  and  Ellie 
D.  Creigh,  who  resides  with  her  mother  in  the  family 
home  at  Mercersburg. 

Beyond  the  home,  and  in  his  daily  contact  with  his 
fellow  men,  he  impressed  them  with  a  sense  of  the  truth- 
fulness of  his  nature,  the  kindliness  of  his  heart,  and  the 
purity  of  his  life.     In  the  many-sided  intercourse  of  life, 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGff,  />.  D.  39 

he  was  always  gentlemanly  and  obliging.  He  did  not  lay 
aside  his  humanity  when  he  entered  upon  his  profession, 
nor  assume  a  lofty,  distant,  and  ministerial  manner.  He 
loved  men,  and  mingled  with  them,  feeling  a  deep  inter- 
est in  their  welfare,  in  their  trials  and  troubles,  their  joys 
and  successes.  His  nature  was  sympathetic,  and  he  with- 
drew from  no  opportunity  to  bless  men  and  do  them  good. 
As  his  Saviour  went  from  house  to  house  mingling  with 
all,  blessing  all,  so  this  servant  of  His  sought  to  make  all 
around  him  smile,  and  to  bring  to  every  heart  the  glad- 
ness of  salvation  and  spiritual  life. 

As  he  went  among  men,  his  calm,  reasonable,  dispas- 
sionate nature  revealed  itself,  the  man  to  be  a  peace-maker, 
to  heal  divisions  and  quiet  strife ;  not  hasty  or  impulsive, 
not  irritable  or  headstrong,  but  the  man  to  proclaim  and 
to  illustrate  the  Gospel  of  peace ;  the  man  for  household 
counsel,  for  childhood's  loving  reverence,  for  social  power. 

In  his  business  relations  with  men,  he  was  faultlessly 
honest  and  honorable,  scrupulously  fair,  free  from  all 
taint  of  money  loving  and  penuriousness.  It  was  a  beau- 
tiful thing  in  the  character  and  life  of  this  man  of  God, 
that  he  kept  his  sacred  office  and  all  his  work  so  undefiled 
by  any  traces  of  a  worldly  spirit. 

In  the  Presbytery  and  Synod,  whose  meetings  he  at- 
tended with  religious  fidelity,  he  was  always  greeted  by 
his  brethren  as  the  friend  and  brother  of  all,  and  the 
model  of  quiet  gentleness  and  forbearance.  He  was  the 
bond  of  harmony.  No  harsh  word  ever  fell  from  his 
lips.  No  sharp  criticism,  no  unkind  judgment,  no  jeal- 
ous, disparaging  remark  escaped  him,  or  marred  the;  uni- 
form charity  with  which  he  treated  his  ministerial  brethren. 


40  IN  MEMORIAM. 


He  walked  among  us,  as  did  "the  beloved  disciple" 
among  the  ancient  Churches,  ever  silently  saying,  "  Love 
one  another,  love  one  another."  His  beautiful  example 
of  high-toned  christian  courtesy  and  gentleness  will  abide 
as  a  permanent  power  while  his  memory  lives.  Never 
did  a  kindlier  heart  beat  in  human  breast.  It  was  charm- 
ing to  observe  how  the  ruffled  spirits  of  men  were  quieted 
when  they  came  into  his  presence.  In  tone  and  temper 
he  was  a  child.  He  had  entered  into  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.  Decided  as  he  was  in  his  convictions,  and  reso- 
lute in  their  defense,  and  frank  in  the  expression  of  them, 
he  disliked  controversy,  and  was  not  at  home  amid  strifes. 
The  spirit  of  peace  ruled  in  him,  expelling  bigotry,  in- 
tolerance, and  harshness,  and  making  it  painful  for  him 
to  grieve  so  much  as  the  heart  of  a  little  child. 

Dr.  Creigh  was  a  man  of  prayer,  and  of  habitual  com- 
munion with  God  and  spiritual  things.  Prayer  with  him 
was  not  an  event  for  set  times  and  places,  but  a  life.  His 
spirit  was  full  of  it.  His  diary  glows  with  prayer.  Brief, 
frequent,  and  fervid  ejaculations  of  prayer  and  praise  be- 
stud  it  like  gems,  showing  that  prayer  was  no  effort  for 
him.  It  was  an  exhalation.  Prayers  for  the  home-circle, 
for  friends,  for  the  people  of  his  love,  for  unbelieving 
members  of  the  congregation,  prayers  for  the  divine  bless- 
ing upon  his  work,  his  sermons  and  lectures,  prayers  for 
revivals,  for  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  scattered 
through  these  records  of  his  daily  life.  He  prayed  for 
the  sick.  The  news  of  any  death  or  sorrow  among  the 
families  of  the  people  called  forth  prayer.  He  made  out 
special  lists  of  members  of  the  congregation,  and  carried 
them  before  God  in  prayer.     The  names  of  a  multitude 


Rev.  THOMAS  C REICH,  D.  D. 


I' 


might  be  drawn  from  these  sacred  records  who  were  borne 
on  his  heart  to  God.     This  pastor  prayed  for  his  people. 
They  were  with  him  in  his  stndy  and  in  his  closet.    Thanks- 
giving, too,  so  closely  allied  to  prayer,  are  found  here— 
for  home-blessings,  for  safe  journeys,  for  conversions  of 
sinners,  for  help  in  preaching,  for  acts  of  kindness  shown 
him,  for  peaceful  or  triumphant  deaths  of  members  of  the 
Church,  scattered  like  pearls  through  the  pages  of  his 
diary.     This  people  were  on  his  heart.     He  baptized  all 
his  work  among  you  with  prayer.     He  prayed  with  you 
in  your  homes,  and  for  you  in  his  own.     Does  one  call 
upon  him  to  inquire  the  way  of  life?     He  makes  record 
of  it.     "The  Lord  be  praised  !"     Does  death  visit  any 
home?     "The  Lord  comfort  that  smitten  home."     A  por- 
tion of  each  Saturday  was  spent  in  special  prayer  for  the 
presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  Sabbath  services. 
It  was  evidently  a  habit  with  him  to  carry  everything  to 
God  in  prayer.     He  had  intercourse  with  God.    "He  en- 
dured as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible."     He  lived  in  a 
presence  that  eye  could  not  see,  nor  ear  hear. 

As  a  minister  of  Christ's  Church.,  he  had  a  high  sense 
of  his  responsibilities.  He  was  a  diligent  and  laborious 
student  of  the  Bible.  His  sermons  were  habitually  prepared 
with  great  care,  and  are  models  of  neatness  and  of  exact 
and  painstaking  faithfulness.  Thoroughly  biblical,  strictly 
orthodox  in  statements  of  christian  doctrine,  they  are  per- 
vaded by  a  calm  but  deep  seriousness,  and  emotional  power. 
Dr.  Creigh  preached  to  the  heart  and  conscience.  There 
was  no  attempt  to  please  men  or  captivate  them.  He  was 
a  stranger  to  the  cold,  intellectual  way  of  looking  at  truth 
or  of  presenting  it.     Moved  and  governed  by  a  controlling 


42  IN  MEMORIAM. 


love  for  his  Lord  and  Saviour,  it  was  his  great  aim  to  pre- 
sent this  Adorable  and  Divine  Person  as  the  object  of  the 
sinner's  acceptance,  and  the  believer's  adoration  and  love. 
The  love  of  Christ  constrained  him.  He  never  lost  sight 
of  Him,  nor  sense  of  Him,  and  that  lifted  into  high  and 
holy  earnestness  all  his  appeals  to  his  fellow-men. 

The  first  sermon  he  preached  to  this  congregation,  was 
on  the  freeness  and  fulness  of  the  Gospel  offer,  ' '  Ho  ! 
every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters;"  and  the 
last  was  on  following  the  Lord  fully,  Numbers,  xiv,  24, 
"But  my  servant  Caleb,  because  he  had  another  Spirit 
with  him,  and  hath  followed  me  fully,  him  will  I  bring 
into  the  land  whereunto  he  went." 

And  now  he  is  gone,  who,  for  fifty  years  sat  at  the  feet 
of  Christ  and  brought  from  thence  God's  word  to  you. 
He  is  gone,  to  whom  life,  while  here,  was  a  great  oppor- 
tunity, not  for  personal  ease  nor  for  earthly  gain,  but  for 
drawing  you  and  your  families  from  the  thraldom  of  sin 
into  the  liberty  of  Christ's  salvation.  He  worked  with 
God,  for  you.  He  shared  in  the  joy  of  Heaven  over  you 
as  you  repented  of  your  sins.  He  watched  the  growth 
of  grace  in  your  hearts  and  lives.  He  longed  to  present 
you  faultless  before  the  throne.  He  sympathized  with 
your  griefs.  At  how  many  graves  he  stood  and  wept,  ere 
you  bore  him,  with  many  tears,  to  his  own  !  Into  how 
many  homes  stricken  with  sorrow  did  he  bring  the  minis- 
try of  consolation  ere  his  own  was  darkened  by  the  griet 
of  his  departure  !  How  often  did  he  preach  to  men  of 
death  and  of  Him  who  is  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life, 
before  he  so  suddenly  passed  into  that  sublime  and  im- 
perishable life  beyond  the  grave  !     So  sudden  was  his  de- 


Kev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  D.  43 

parture,  that  we  were  stunned  and  confused  by  the  shock. 
It  was  not  so  sudden  to  him  as  to  us ;  he  had  looked  for  it. 

Months  before  his  call  came,  he  writes  in  his  diary, 
"How  near  I  may  be  to  the  end  of  my  pilgrimage,  the 
Lord  only  knows.  It  may  be  very  near  and  sudden.  So 
I  often  think  it  will  be,  and  hence,  under  this  impression, 
I  would  put  my  hand  in  the  hand  of  Jesus  and  would  fol- 
low vvherever  He  leads."  Somewhat  later  he  again  writes, 
of  the  shortness  of  breath  which  so  frequently  troubled 
him  during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  "My  shortness  of 
breath  continues,  and  probably  increases.  It  may  bring 
about  the  end  suddenly.  May  I  be  prepared  for  the 
issue,  be  it  long  or  short,  sudden  or  protracted.  All  my 
springs  are  in  Thee,  O  God.  '  Into  thy  hands  I  commend 
my  Spirit.  Living,  I  would  live  unto  the  Lord.  Dying, 
I  would  die  unto  the  Lord.'  Whenever  the  Lord  calls 
me,  I  can  be  spared  ;  my  work  is  done." 

On  the  closing  day  of  1879,  ne  was  suffering  from 
severe  pains  in  the  region  of  the  heart,  and  again  refers 
to  the  precariousness  of  his  life.  The  pains  were  similar 
to  some  from  which  he  suffered  in  his  early  manhood. 
He  writes,  "  Would  it  not  be  a  singular  Providence  if  they 
had  abated,  except  occasionally,  for  forty-eight  years, 
abated  in  order  that  I  might  do  the  work  of  the  Lord  for 
these  years,  and  now  that  they  should  return  when  my 
work  seems  to  be  coming  to  a  close  !  What  cause  for 
thankfulness  that  the  Lord  has  spared  me  these  many 
years  to  labor  for  Him  !  Oh,  how  much  infirmity  and 
sin,  and  how  many  short  comings  !  The  good  Lord  par- 
don all  that  has  been  wrong  in  thought  and  word  and 
deed,  in  purpose,  in  motive^  and  in  desire.     My  days  are 


44  IN  MEMORIAM. 


hastening  to  a  close.  They  may  be  very  few.  Oh  to  be 
able  to  keep  the  end  in  sight! " 

And  on  the  next  day,  January  i,  1880,  after  expressing 
the  wish  that  the  work  for  his  Master,  during  the  year  just 
gone,  had  been  more  and  better  done,  he  adds,  "And 
now  since  I  have  entered  on  another  New  Year,  would 
that  it  might  be  one  of  more  entire  consecration  to  my 
blessed  Lord  !  It  may  be  my  last  year  on  earth.  I  feel 
that  the  time  of  my  departure  is  drawing  near.  It  may 
take  place  soon  and  suddenly.  Oh  to  be  fully  prepared 
for  it !" 

Two  weeks  before  his  death  he  makes  this  entry : 

"Indisposed  ;  machine  seems  to  be  wearing  out.  The 
Lord  reigns ;  we  will  rejoice."  He  attended  the  meeting 
of  Presbytery  one  week  before  his  death,  made  a  record 
of  its  session  in  his  diary,  with  the  prayer,  "The  Lord 
bless  the  Presbytery  !  " 

At  the  close  of  his  last  Sabbath's  labors,  he  writes : 
"Another  Sabbath  nearly  gone,  with  all  its  privileges  and 
responsibilities.  O,  to  be  prepared  for  the  Eternal  Sab- 
bath !  " 

Beloved  Dr.  Creigh  !  Dear  man  of  God  !  He  was 
living  quite  on  the  verge  of  heaven.  He  was  permitted 
to  work  up  to  the  very  last.  There  was  not  the  loss  of 
an  hour.  The  infirmities  of  age  lay  lightly  upon  him. 
He  was  spared,  in  the  great  kindness  of  God,  from  severe 
physical  prostration  and  weakness.  His  mental  powers 
were  unimpaired.  His  thoughts  had  been  gently  gathered 
for  months  around  the  coming  world.  The  soft  light  of 
the  eternal  future  was  falling  upon  him.  His  earthly 
cares  were  set  in  order.     His  .ear  was  daily  listening  for 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  D.  45 


the  summons  of  departure.  It  came  suddenly.  In  a  mo- 
ment the  "  golden  bowl  was  broken,  and  the  silver  cord 
was  loosed."  Without  the  bitterness  of  death  the  spirit 
passed  away. 

So  Chalmers  died.  Lying  down  at  night,  with  the  im- 
plements for  writing  within  easy  reach  of  his  hand,  that 
ne  might  resume  his  work  at  waking,  and  at  the  early 
dawn,  his  liberated  soul  exclaimed,  "Let  me  go,  for  the 
morning  breaketh."  So  died  Albert  Barnes.  So  many 
another  servant  of  God  has  gone,  suddenly,  as  if,  resting 
for  a  moment,  he  leaned  against  a  door,  unexpectedly  it 
opens,  and  lo !  all  beyond  is  heaven.  So  passed  dear 
Dr.  Creigh.  The  door  opened  and  he  was  gone  to  be 
with  Christ.  He  was  ready.  The  trimmed  and  burning 
lamp  was  in  his  hand.     It  was  not  far  to  go. 

"  Surely  yon  heaven,  where  angels  see  God's  face, 

Is  not  distant,  as  we  deem, 
From  this  low  earth  ?     Tis  but  a  little  space, 

The  narrow  crossing  of  a  slender  stream; 
'Tis  but  a  veil,  which  winds  might  blow  aside: 
Yes,  these  are  all  that  us  of  earth  divide 
From  the  bright  dwelling  of  the  glorified." 

Nor  has  he  changed  his  life,  his  work,  or  his  inward  self. 
While  he  was  here  he  lived  for  God,  and  worked  for  God, 
and  loved  God,  and  there,  too,  he  is  the  same  man,  living 
for  God,  working  for  God,  loving  God  still.  To  God  he 
gave  himself  long  years  ago.  He  kept  his  consecration 
vows  clear  and  fresh  to  the  last,  and  now,  purified, 
cleansed  from  the  last  taint  of  sin,  and  glorified,  he  is 
still  consecrated  to  Christ,  and  employed  in  his  service. 


f^go^iPrtOjVg 


ADOPTED    BY    THE 


$e^sioi\  of  tl\e  ^lef  dei^lmrg  Cfliiu'dl\. 


Whereas,  The  Great  Head  of  the  Church  has  seen 
fit,  in  His  all-wise  providence,  suddenly  to  remove,  by 
the  hand  of  death,  our  beloved  and  faithful  friend  and 
Pastor,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Creigh,  D.  D.,  who  died  of  con- 
gestion of  the  lungs,  at  eleven  o'clock  and  forty  minutes, 
p.  m.,  on  Wednesday,  the  21st  of  April,  1880;  therefore, 

Resolved,  1st,  That  we  bow  with  resignation  and  sub- 
missiveness  to  His  will,  knowing  that  He  doeth  all  things 
well. 

Resolved,  2d,  That  we  recognize  with  devout  thank- 
fulness the  goodness  of  God,  who  gave  and  so  long  con- 
tinued to  us  this  His  faithful  and  devoted  servant — his 
labors  with  us  having  extended  to  a  period  of  more  than 
forty-eight  years. 

Resolved,  $d,  That  we  delight  to  bear  testimony  to 
his  great  fidelity  as  a  Minister  of  the  Word,  the  careful 
preparation  of  his  sermons,  and  the  earnestness,  tender- 
ness, and  faithfulness  which  characterized  his  public  min- 
istrations. 

Resolved,  4I/1,  That  we  would  express  our  high  appre- 
ciation of  his  pastoral  labors,  in  which  he  excelled ;   in 


Rev.  THOMAS  CREIGH,  D.  D.  47 

visiting  the  families  of  his  flock,  speaking  the  Word  from 
house  to  house;  comforting,  encouraging,  warning,  ad- 
monishing, as  the  occasion  might  require;  in  visiting 
and  ministering  to  the  sick  and  dying ;  in  pointing  the 
sorrowing  and  distressed  to  the  Source  of  all  comfort 
and  consolation.  In  his  flock  and  neighborhood  there 
were  none,  however  poor  or  humble  or  lowly,  that  had 
not  his  sympathy  and  care  and  prayers. 

Resolved,  $th,  That  we  would  not  be  unmindful  of  his 
deep  interest  in  and  care  for  the  lambs  of  the  flock,  and 
his  earnest  solicitude  that  they  might  be  early  gathered 
into  the  fold  of  the  great  and  good  Shepherd. 

Resolved,  6th,  That  we  shall  ever  cherish  a  grateful 
remembrance  of  his  relation  to  us,  and  his  intercourse 
with  us  as  a  Session,  his  kindly  advice,  words  of  encour- 
agement, tender  sympathy,  and  gentle  admonitions  as  to 
the  duties  that  devolved  upon  us. 

Resolved,  yth,  That  the  family  of  our  late  beloved 
Pastor  have  our  heartfelt  sympathy  in  this  hour  of  sore 
bereavement  and  deep  distress ;  and  that  we,  with  tender 
ness,  commend  them  to  the  care  of  that  faithful,  covenant- 
keeping  God,  whom  he  so  delighted  to  serve,  and  on 
whom  he  relied. 

Resolved,  8th,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent 
to  the  afflicted  family. 

By  the  Session  of  the  Church,  at  Mercersburg,  Penn- 
sylvania, April  26,  1880. 

John  Humphrey,  James  A.  Patterson, 

John  L.  Rhea,  John  McCullough, 

O.  L.   Murray,  A.  B.  McDowell, 

James  A.  McCune,  Seth  Dickey. 


Sdtioq  of  %  fWd  of  T^u^tee^  of  Wilson  College, 
Chkin>ei'£bm'g,  Pk. 


The  Board  of  Trustees  of  Wilson  College  having  heard, 
with  deep  sorrow,  of  the  decease  of  Rev.  Thomas  Creigh, 
D.  D.,  a  corporate  member  of  this  Board  from  its  organ- 
ization, and  its  honored  President  for  many  years,  would 
put  on  record  their  sense  of  the  great  loss  sustained  by 
the  College  and  by  the  Christian  Church  in  his  removal. 

By  his  uniformly  courteous  and  dignified  bearing,  by 
his  calm  and  wise  counsels,  by  his  abiding  and  great  in- 
terest in  the  cause  of  a  higher  and  Christian  education 
for  woman,  and  his  peculiar  interest  in  the  welfare  and 
work  of  this  College,  Dr.  Creigh  was  eminently  worthy 
of  that  complete  confidence  which  he  inspired  in  the 
hearts  of  his  fellow  members  of  this  Board.  We  shall 
recall  with  pleasure  the  memory  of  our  official  intercourse 
with  him  for  so  many  years,  unmarred  by  a  single  word 
or  act  that  could  give  any  one  pain ;  the  memory  of  one 
who  united  gentleness  with  zeal,  wisdom  with  firmness, 
and  an  unfailing  charity,  with  a  conscientious  faithfulness 
to  duty. 

We  extend  to  his  bereaved  family  assurances  of  our 
tender  sympathy  in  their  sorrow,  and  commend  the 
Church,  where  he  was  so  useful  and  beloved,  to  his 
Master  and  theirs  for  consolation. 


„    m  HH 


